Introducing adult rats have always been tricky but for some reason I’ve always been blessed with rats that accept their brothers (and sister) with relative ease. That is, until I brought Disya and Dima home in April! I originally got them as companions for my aging heart-rat, Bobby, after he lost his brother James.
A lot of rat owners will tell you that the Siamese gene tends to be very dominant, and with Disya and Dima both being Siamese I was weary but not too concerned of their tendency for aggression. Dima quickly proved that I was overconfident in my knowledge of rats and unfortunately Bobby suffered the brunt of his dominance and we almost lost him.
Both Disya and Dima were promptly neutered the next week and we’ve been waiting patiently to introduce them to our little girl, Lily, who is incidentally also a Siamese and has given her poor cage mate, Ribbi all his days with her bundles of energy.
We’ve been slowly starting with introductions, putting her cage close to theirs and swapping toys and blankets to get them used to each other’s smell over a period of a few weeks, while waiting for the boys to “dry up”. On Saturday we officially introduced the three. Lily was ecstatic to meet new friends (as usual)! She was running up and down the bed, squirming underneath the bigger rats and dashing under and out of their blanket in a general state of exploding energy.
Poor Disya and Dima didn’t know what hit them! This little whirlwind was so fast they could hardly see her, let alone keep up with her! I was laughing hysterically as Disya tried to play with her but looked like a lumbering giant trying to keep pace with her as she would run away from him. Dima was caught a bit off guard and retreated to mom’s lap for pretty much the first half of play time, trying to avoid Lily. She quickly stole his heart though and they were grooming each other after no time!
We repeated the exercise on Sunday and added in some yummy spaghetti and sweet potato for dinner (I maintain that the best way to build relationships is over a meal). This time around Dima even seemed happy to see his new sister and they were wrestling and grooming for hours! I didn’t once see the aggression that was present with Bobby at playtime so I felt very positive about this.
Lily and the Twins will continue to have playtime together for the next week or so and should soon be able to join each other full-time!
A lot of rat owners will tell you that the Siamese gene tends to be very dominant, and with Disya and Dima both being Siamese I was weary but not too concerned of their tendency for aggression. Dima quickly proved that I was overconfident in my knowledge of rats and unfortunately Bobby suffered the brunt of his dominance and we almost lost him.
Both Disya and Dima were promptly neutered the next week and we’ve been waiting patiently to introduce them to our little girl, Lily, who is incidentally also a Siamese and has given her poor cage mate, Ribbi all his days with her bundles of energy.
We’ve been slowly starting with introductions, putting her cage close to theirs and swapping toys and blankets to get them used to each other’s smell over a period of a few weeks, while waiting for the boys to “dry up”. On Saturday we officially introduced the three. Lily was ecstatic to meet new friends (as usual)! She was running up and down the bed, squirming underneath the bigger rats and dashing under and out of their blanket in a general state of exploding energy.
Poor Disya and Dima didn’t know what hit them! This little whirlwind was so fast they could hardly see her, let alone keep up with her! I was laughing hysterically as Disya tried to play with her but looked like a lumbering giant trying to keep pace with her as she would run away from him. Dima was caught a bit off guard and retreated to mom’s lap for pretty much the first half of play time, trying to avoid Lily. She quickly stole his heart though and they were grooming each other after no time!
We repeated the exercise on Sunday and added in some yummy spaghetti and sweet potato for dinner (I maintain that the best way to build relationships is over a meal). This time around Dima even seemed happy to see his new sister and they were wrestling and grooming for hours! I didn’t once see the aggression that was present with Bobby at playtime so I felt very positive about this.
Lily and the Twins will continue to have playtime together for the next week or so and should soon be able to join each other full-time!